Abortion Rights Aotearoa/(ALRANZ) is deeply concerned,
though unsurprised to see abortion rights being used as a
political pawn by Winston Peters and his anti-choice
colleagues in Voice for Life (VFL) and the de-registered
charity, Family First NZ.
ALRANZ viewed VFL’s public
webinar where they advocated jailing women who have
abortions. In the September 2025 webinar, “Abolitionism vs
Incrementalism: Making Sense of Pro-Life Strategies” a
Christian teacher of ethics called in and asked whether
women who have abortions should be criminalised. Brendan
Malone, on behalf of VFL clearly responded, ‘Yes.’ This
same caller also asked if VFL wanted to shame women for
having abortions, and again the answer was
‘yes’.
Given that agreement on contraception and
women’s right to choose has significantly decreased from
78% to 73% (Gender Attitudes Survey, 2025), our concern is
that unethical ideas, such as jailing women for having
abortions will be amplified by the seemingly strong
political network behind these fringe anti-abortion
groups.
Family First NZ held its 20th “Forum on the
Family” on 11-12th September 2026, where they railed
against abortion, ‘wokeness’, and trans tamariki, among
other things. In attendance was Winston Peters and his cadre
of puritanical wannabe-MAGA list MPs. Additionally,
National MP Sam Uffindell attended.
Through their
attendance, National and NZ First appear to be friendly with
this de-registered charity, which ALRANZ believes is
importing overseas legislation that targets trans kids,
bodily autonomy, and democracy, to the above-mentioned
political parties. Family
First NZ recently attended the Alliance for Responsible
Citizenship (ARC) held in June 2026 in London. ARC champions
themes of opposition to green economic policies, opposition
to abortion, and opposition to multiculturalism, including
their goal to define women’s biology in law.
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It is
our belief that Peters is closely aligned with the
anti-choice community in NZ, as evidenced by the
‘exclusive’ interview he gave to Family First NZ on the
7th of October where he said abortions done later in
pregnancy could shade into “murder and
assassination”, depending on the timing.
ALRANZ
has little doubt that National and NZ First, if
given another term, would ban access to abortion or attempt
to chip away at abortion rights incrementally, as the VFL
video explicitly states. This, along with Health Minister
Simeon Brown’s lifelong mission to ban abortion,
is a real threat to women’s rights and bodily
autonomy.
Brown unilaterally banned puberty blockers
against all evidence and professional advice – if a
Health Minister can ban healthcare access for one group of
people, he can and will ban healthcare access for others if
given another term.
We urge the public to make an
informed choice in this election and oppose political
parties that seemingly support overseas right-wing extremist
policies in Aotearoa. No one ever thought abortion rights
could fall in the US and women warned the public about this
for decades – now the US is criminalising women who have
abortions once again. We are not the US and New Zealanders
will not stand for this. This is not representative of the
NZ anti-choice motto, ‘love them both’- far from it.
Bodily autonomy is the law in Aotearoa, as it should be. We
will not go
back.
